Courses

Introduction to careers in architecture. A Young Scholars Program course, offered during the summer only. Students learn about careers in architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning. Architecture faculty teach basic design principles that students use to complete their own design project in a design studio environment.

Examines iterative design processes and critical thinking skills through active learning and design thinking methodologies to solve problems and apply design as a lens of inquiry and exploration. Students will understand Design Thinking through interactive and experiential learning.

Study of architectural representation in physical and digital design media. Examine visual literacy and visual communications through applied drawing, modeling and visual making to explore the role of design media and representation in design and design thinking.

Pre-1500 World Architecture survey course - History of Architecture structured to develop critical thinking and visual literacy with regard to the worldwide legacy of design thinking and cultural production through architecture.

Post-1500 - World Architecture survey course - History of Architecture structured to develop critical thinking and visual literacy with regard to the legacy of design thinking and cultural production through architecture.

Case studies and hands-on design projects ranging in scale from a product to a building to give students insight into the process by which architects work both individually and collaboratively to put disciplinary knowledge and expertise into practice to shape our built environment.

An introduction to the four disciplines represented in the School: architecture and urban design, community planning, historic preservation, and real estate development, that work to create a more sustainable environment for the future to create a more sustainable environment for the future using our interpretation of the quadruple bottom line: socio-cultural, economic, environmental, and design sustainability. Students will be provided with an understanding of the fundamental scholarship and processes of each of these disciplines and examine the intersections between them. Additionally, they will learn by applying the approaches of the four disciplines through a series of field studies.

Explore the ways and the degrees to which UMCP campus master planning and operations incorporate principles of sustainability including smart growth, LEED and other building rating systems, higher education rating systems, sustainable agriculture and transportation planning. Among other subjects, students will learn about the Campus and the City of College Park and survey the relationship between local, national and global sustainability concerns. Students will learn about the University's Climate Action Plan and the roles, and extent to which, the campus Office of Sustainability and other campus units are helping develop a carbon-neutral and resource-efficient campus infrastructure and will tour selected facilities on campus.

Study of architectural representation in physical and digital design media. Examine visual communications and speculative visual studies through applied drawing, modeling and making to explore expanded roles of representation in design and design thinking.

Architectural design studio with emphasis on building and facade typologies, the development of architectural promenade and sequence, public and/or civic infill buildings dependent upon the architectural promenade, and urban housing types of varying densities. The architect's obligations to urban context are explored in many dimensions including historical, typological, and physical.

Investigations into the relationship between the man-made and the natural world including introductory issues of assembly and material value. Design of the site and the building are combined into an integral process delimiting and probing the boundaries of each and exploring their reciprocal relationship. The architect's obligations to the natural and urban contexts are explored in many dimensions including historical, typological, environmental, and physical.

Architectural design studio with emphasis on building and facade typologies, the development of architectural promenade and sequence, public and/or civic infill buildings dependent upon the architectural promenade, and urban housing types of varying densities. The architect's obligations to urban context are explored in many dimensions including historical, typological, and physical.

Investigations into the relationship between the man-made and the natural world including introductory issues of assembly and material value. Design of the site and the building are combined into an integral process delimiting and probing the boundaries of each and exploring their reciprocal relationship. The architect's obligations to the natural and urban contexts are explored in many dimensions including historical, typological, environmental, and physical.

Studio problems and theories concentrating on urbanism and urban design techniques. Issues and sites range from high-density urban in-fill to suburban and greenfield development in American and other contexts. Studio theories explore such topics as Contextualism, Neo-Traditional design, Transit Oriented Development, density, sustainable development, building typology, and street design.

Pre-1500 World Architecture survey course - History of Architecture structured to develop critical thinking and visual literacy with regard to the worldwide legacy of design thinking and cultural production through architecture.

Post-1500 - World Architecture survey course - History of Architecture structured to develop critical thinking and visual literacy with regard to the legacy of design thinking and cultural production through architecture.

Investigation of the relationship between drawing from life and architectural drawing, the conventions of architectural drawing and the role of architectural drawing as a means to develop, communicate, and generate architectural ideas.

Study of visual principles of architectural and urban precedents through graphic analysis. Exercises include on-site observation, documentation and analysis. Focuses on the development of an architect's sketchbook as a tool for life-long learning.

Building constructions methods and materials are examined through case studies to explore the means and techniques applied to the material execution of building and BIM. Focus on an understanding of the organization of the design and construction process and awareness of building and zoning codes, material systems and types.

This course covers the basic principles of architectural structures, including the influence of geometric, sectional, and material properties related to flexure and shear in beam and framed systems; vector mechanics with application to analysis of trusses, catenaries, and arches; diagrammatic analysis of beams for bending moment, shear, and deflection as well as the study of structural framing systems for vertical and lateral loads.

This course covers the basics principles of elastic behavior for different materials such as wood, steel, concrete, and composite materials and compares the properties and applications of materials generally. It investigates cross sectional stress and strain behavior in flexure and in shear, and torsion as well as the stability of beams and columns. The qualitative behavior of combined stresses and fracture in materials is also covered.

Integrated Project Delivery is examined from design to implementation through an exploration of building construction, architectural design and construction management perspectives. Experiential learning through BIM is focused on case studies of built and unbuilt architectural projects.

Introduction to computer utilization, with emphasis on digital design media. Examine digital drawing and modeling to understand the role of design applications of digital processes, techniques and concepts in architecture.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is explored as pertains to collaboration and communication in the design and construction of buildings and building systems. Practical and empirical learning using BIM software and case studies of real world projects and construction scenarios.

Examine National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) student performance criteria in the context of architectural education. Contextualize NAAB accredited curricula and examine the relationship to graduate study and professional practice, including the Intern Development Program (IDP) of the National Council of Architectural Registration Board (NCARB).

Integrated and comprehensive building and site design. Course content bridges the gap between design and technology, between practice and education, in a studio setting. Explorations include the integration of conceptual and technical aspects of architectural form and assembly, highlighting the ways in which multiple layers of a building design are developed and coordinated.

Technology in design of buildings. Application of technological issues in building design; integration of technology in architecture; technology as a form determinant in architecture; other conceptual and philosophical issues related to the application of technology in the design, construction, and use of buildings.

Advanced investigation into problems of analysis and evaluation of the design of urban areas, spaces, and complexes with emphasis on physical and social considerations; effects of public policies through case studies. Field observations.

Advanced use of computer technology in design. Use of digital design processes and conceptual methodologies to study design alternatives and realization. Methods and techniques of digital design representation, simulation, or fabrication to explore and test concepts and integration of digital technologies into the architectural design process.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is examined in depth relativwe to Integrated Project Delivery methods as pertains to collaboration and communication in the design and construction of buildings and building systems. Practical and empirical learning using BIM software and case studies of real world projects and construction scenarios.

Comprehension of major themes in the development of architectural building techniques and culture value systems in architecture are developed through lecture, discussion and analysis of seminal readings and buildings.

Studio problems and theories concentrating on urbanism and urban design techniques. Issues and sites range from high density urban in-fill to suburban and greenfield development in American and other contexts. Studio theories explore such topics as Contextualism, Neo-Traditional design, Transit-Oriented Development, density, sustainable development building typology, and street design.